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With a career glittering over three decades marked by soaring triumphs, blockbuster hits, and a vast international fanbase, Bollywood’s “King Khan” Shah Rukh Khan has now entered the rarified ranks of global billionaires.
According to Hindustan Times, the Hurun India Rich List 2025 names the 59-year-old charismatic superstar as the wealthiest actor in the Indian film industry, after 33 years of cinematic dominance.
His name also features among the world’s highest-earning celebrities, ahead of global icons like Taylor Swift, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Selena Gomez.
Shah Rukh’s current net worth stands at 124.9 billion rupees (Tk 186.4 billion).
Among Indian celebrities, Juhi Chawla and her family are next, with a combined wealth of 77.9 billion rupees (Tk 116.1 billion).
Actor Hrithik Roshan holds 21.6 billion rupees (Tk 32.2 billion), filmmaker Karan Johar owns 18.8 billion rupees (Tk 28 billion), and screen legend Amitabh Bachchan possesses an estimated 16.3 billion rupees (Tk 24.3 billion) in assets.
In 2024, Johar drew headlines by selling 50 percent of his production house Dharma Productions to billionaire vaccine maker Adar Poonawalla for $119 million.
Shah Rukh’s fortune is built on more than cinema.
His brand value, high-end endorsements, production company Red Chillies Entertainment, advanced VFX studio, stake in the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders, and premium real estate in Dubai and the Middle East have all contributed to his entry into the billionaire league.
“Khan’s billionaire status is driven mainly by his stakes in Red Chillies Entertainment [his production company] and Knight Rider Sports [his IPL cricket club],” Anas Rahman Junaid, founder and chief researcher at Hurun India, told the BBC.
Khan’s entry in the billionaire list is a reflection of the changing nature of India’s economic growth drivers, he said.
“As the Indian economy matures and moves to its next stage of wealth creation, we are seeing new centres of value emerge beyond traditional sectors like manufacturing, IT and banking.
Sports, entertainment and IP-driven businesses are now “serious engines of wealth creation in India”, Junaid added.
India’s billionaire count has now crossed 350, with Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani retaining the top two positions, according to Hurun India.